HAWCOAT Park suffered a rare defeat at home to Red River in Division One of the Alan Myerscough (Ford) Ulverston and District Bowling League.

The games were tied at 6-6, but the River took the aggregate and the game 9-6 thanks to a terrific 21-2 victory by David Jones and an equally-impressive 21-5 by Stuart Aspinall.

Wilf Heywood and Tony Kneale responded for Hawcoat with their own single-figure wins.

It is looking more and more like King Alfred may have enough fire power to take the league as although they lead by just a point, they have a game in hand on their closest rivals.

Visiting Roose this week, they will be delighted to have secured a 10-5 victory. Mike Hool, back on familiar ground, and Keith Mills were the Alfred’s top performers, with Ronnie Rhodes and Dave Staunton shining for Roose.

Back in third are last year’s champions Ulverston Cons A, who are refusing to give up the trophy without a fight. They made the trip over the bridge to West Shore and returned with a 12-3 haul.

Simon Walker took the star man award for the Cons, while Dave Coverdale was top man for the Shore.

Right behind the Cons are Co-op, who could well be the Alfred’s closest challengers as they also have a game in hand over their nearest rivals.

They were involved in the closest game of the week as they hosted Post Office, tying the games at 6-6 and winning the aggregate by a solitary point, making the result 8-6.

Bottom man Alan Fay was best winner, although performance of the night was undoubtedly from top man Steve Bushell, who beat the then-merit leader Zach Walker 21-11. Old stagers Martin Lavender and Alf Oldfield posted great victories for the Walney side.

Early pace-setters Askam have fallen away recently, and suffered a heavy defeat this week as they visited a rampant Glaxo side and could only take a couple of points in the 12-2 reversal.

Chris McIlroy and Chris D’Leny both had excellent wins for the works side, with Kevin Toal also back in form after his enforced break through injury. The Rigg brothers, Andy and Graham, secured Askam’s wins.

The current second-placed side Salthouse will be delighted with their 11-3 victory over Lindal Moor. Merit challenger Adam Miller was in top form along with Barry Asbury and Andy Woods. Lindal Moor’s form men were Keith Johnson and Shaun Taylor.

Kirkby find themselves cast adrift at the bottom of the table, with an 11-4 defeat at home to Walney Park not helping the cause. Luke Moxham, Jeff McDougal and John Whittall all had 21-5 victories for the Islanders with Peter Lee and Stuart Goodwin in form for the villagers.

As the season enters the home straight it is still anyone’s guess who will take the merit prizes. In Division One, Barry Lowden, Zach Walker and Adam Miller all currently sit on 18 wins while in Division Two, runaway leaders Dalton CC dominate the top places with Dave Kent currently leading the way.